JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has secured about 40 percent of votes with over 99 percent of ballot counting completed in the country's general elections, the Independent Electoral Commission's (IEC) results showed on Saturday.

Millions of people went to the polls on Wednesday in what was anticipated to be the country's most fiercely contested elections since the end of apartheid in 1994.

As shown by the counting results, the ANC was followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 3,420,161 votes at 21.70 percent, while the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party was in third position with 2,312,947 votes at 14.68 percent

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According to the IEC results dashboard, as of 2:00 pm local time on Saturday, votes from 23,096 of 23,292 voting districts had been counted and captured. The ANC took the lead nationally, with 6,344,057 votes representing 40.25 percent.

However, for the first time, the ruling party fell below the 50 percent needed to maintain its 30-year-old unchallenged majority in the National Assembly.

As shown by the counting results, the ANC was followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 3,420,161 votes at 21.70 percent, while the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party was in third position with 2,312,947 votes at 14.68 percent. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which is currently the third biggest party in the parliament, came in fourth with 1,491,237 or 9.46 percent of votes.

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As per the IEC data, as of 2:00 pm, 27,782,081 South Africans were registered to vote for a new National Assembly and provincial legislatures, with a total of 15,970,111 votes cast. Of these, 15,760,494 were valid, with 209,617 spoiled ballots. The voter turnout was 58.58 percent, lower than the 66 percent recorded in the 2019 elections.

The electoral commission has seven days from the date of the elections to announce the results. After that, the new National Assembly will select the president of South Africa for the next five years by a simple majority.

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Ahead of the polls, the IEC said it would officially announce the final results of the 2024 national and provincial elections on Sunday.